Insider Weekends: Richard Massey Acquires 10,000 Shares of Cannae Holdings

Welcome to edition 486 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying declined significantly last week with insiders purchasing $42.92 million of stock last week compared to $125.79 million in the week prior. Selling also declined with insiders selling $348.05 million of stock last week compared to $508.49 million in the week prior.

As we enter the peak of the third quarter earnings season insider activity is likely to remain muted over the next couple of weeks.

Sell/Buy Ratio: The insider Sell/Buy ratio is calculated by dividing the total insider sales in a given week by total insider purchases that week. The adjusted ratio for last week increased to 8.12. In other words, insiders sold more than 8 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 4.04.

Note: As mentioned in the first post in this series, certain industries have their preferred metrics such as same store sales for retailers, funds from operations (FFO) for REITs and revenue per available room (RevPAR) for hotels that provide a better basis for comparison than simple valuation metrics. However metrics like Price/Earnings, Price/Sales and Enterprise Value/EBITDA included below should provide a good starting point for analyzing the majority of stocks.

Notable Insider Buys:

1. Assured Guaranty Ltd. (AGO): $45.54

Chief Investment Officer Andrew T. Feldstein acquired 46,800 shares of this insurance company, paying $44.16 per share for a total amount of $2.07 million. Mr. Feldstein increased his stake by 195% to 70,800 shares with this purchase.

These purchases appear to be related to Assured Guaranty’s $160 million purchase of the alternative asset management company Blue Mountain Capital Management that closed earlier this month. The first footnote of this form 4 filing states,

“The Reporting Person has agreed with the issuer to purchase Common Shares of the issuer during the two-month period ending November 30, 2019 for an aggregate purchase price of $22,500,000, representing a portion of the cash consideration he received in the acquisition of BlueMountain Capital Management, LLC and its associated entities by a subsidiary of the issuer.”

Mr. Feldstein also purchased 24,000 shares in the first week of October and we are likely to continue seeing purchases by him through the rest of this month and next month.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Assured Guaranty Ltd. here.

2. Red Rock Resorts, Inc. (RRR): $20.815

Shares of this resorts & casinos company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Director Lorenzo J. Fertitta acquired 10,171 shares, paying $19.50 per share for a total amount of $198,324. These shares were purchased indirectly by Fertitta Investment LLC.
• Director Frank J. Fertitta III acquired 10,170 shares, paying $19.50 per share for a total amount of $198,305. These shares were purchased indirectly by Fertitta Investment LLC.

After a string of insider purchases in August, the Fertitta brothers are back at it this month and have purchases 70,341 shares worth $1.37 million. Their purchases in August were much larger with the brothers buying 3.39 million shares worth $63.94 million bringing their stake to over 67% of the company.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Red Rock Resorts, Inc. here.

3. Landec Corporation (LNDC): $9.455

Director Nelson Obus acquired 30,000 shares of this packaged foods company, paying $10.06 per share for a total amount of $301,870. These shares were purchased indirectly by Wynnefield Capital, Inc.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Landec Corporation here.

4. Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRCA): $15.26

Director Paul B. Manning acquired 20,886 shares of this medical dermatology company, paying $14.38 per share for a total amount of $300,280. Mr. Manning increased his stake by 0.26% to 8,079,394 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. here.

5. Cannae Holdings, Inc. (CNNE): $27.9

Director Richard N. Massey acquired 10,000 shares of this diversified holding company, paying $27.53 per share for a total amount of $275,322. Mr. Massey increased his stake by 4.90% to 213,899 shares with this purchase.

Cannae is an interesting holding company with a leadership team led by William P. Foley that successfully grew 3 major public companies including Fidelity National Financial (FNF), Fidelity National Information Services (NYSE:FIS) and Black Knight (NYSE:BKI).

Some of Cannae’s largest current investments include human capital management (HCM) software company Ceridian HCM Holding (CDAY) and data and analytics company Dun & Bradstreet, which was taken private earlier this year.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Cannae Holdings, Inc. here.

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Facebook, Inc. (FB): $184.19

COB and CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 592,500 shares of Facebook for $179.11, generating $106.12 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by various entities.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Facebook, Inc. here.

2. American Tower Corporation (REIT) (AMT): $224.45

EVP, Chief Admin Officer GC & Secretary Edmund DiSanto sold 66,618 shares of this telecom services company for $226.26, generating $15.07 million from the sale. 34,949 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for American Tower Corporation (REIT) here.

3. Apple Inc. (AAPL): $236.21

Senior Vice President, CFO Luca Maestri sold 61,659 shares of Apple for $228.38, generating $14.08 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Apple Inc. here.

4. Smartsheet Inc. (SMAR): $41.02

Shares of this cloud software company were sold by 4 insiders:

• Director Geoffrey T. Barker sold 200,000 shares for $38.34, generating $7.67 million from the sale.
• Chief Revenue Officer Michael Arntz sold 20,000 shares for $38.06, generating $761,210 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Chief Legal Officer & GC Paul Porrini sold 20,000 shares for $39.12, generating $782,400 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
• Chief Product Officer Eugene Farrell sold 10,000 shares for $39.65, generating $396,450 from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Smartsheet Inc. here.

5. Dollar Tree, Inc. (DLTR): $115.19

Shares of this discount store chain were sold by 3 insiders:

• Executive Chairman Bob Sasser sold 70,000 shares for $115.92, generating $8.11 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by a trust.
• Director Thomas A. Saunders sold 1,000 shares for $116.20, generating $116,200 from the sale.
• COO of Family Dollar Thomas O’Boyle Jr. sold 719 shares for $113.19, generating $81,387 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Dollar Tree, Inc. here.

You can view the full list of sales from this Insider Sales page.

The list of all insider purchases and sales by management people is only available to InsideArbitrage Premium and Plus members.

Disclaimer: I hold a long position in Apple (AAPL). Please do your own due diligence before buying or selling any securities mentioned in this article. We do not warrant the completeness or accuracy of the content or data provided in this article.

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